Pemberton Ridge
by Manda Panda Bear
Summary: Please read and review...and this is the completed version, yes it is left slightly to interpritation


Author's note: I don't own Alice or wonderland, or any of the character from Wonderland in this story.  
  
  
Alice  
  
He had only heard of the girl. She was just another patient. Alice. The questions would be the same, the routine, typical. He looked at his watch, 9:29 am, she would be there any second. Knock, knock.  
  
"Come," He said.  
  
Quietly and slowly the door creaked open. A nurse peered in stating, "Alice is here Doctor Hamilton."  
  
"Yes, bring her to the bed."  
  
The nurse guided a young, slender woman to the place where all patients sat when the doctor would question them. She wore a blue dress that hung just past her knees, with a bright white apron over top. Her hair was a golden blonde and her eyes looked like emeralds. She sat softly on the seat and refused when the nurse offered to help lay her down. After the nurse disappeared the doctor turned to the lady, "Hello, Alice. I am Doctor Hamilton, I will be giving you an interview. If you feel uncomfortable in any way you do not have to answer my questions. However, the best way to help you is to understand what you are feeling and why you are feeling that way; so, always be honest. You may lie to me, but you can never lie to yourself."  
  
Alice's noncommittal expression did not shift, but she snickered under her breath. The walls were a flat gray. One window, to Alice's left, allowed yellow sun to illuminate the room. Her eyes stayed transfixed to the wall in front of her.  
  
"Okay, we will start out simple, how old are you Alice?"  
  
"18."  
  
"Where do you live?"  
  
Alice shifted uneasily when he asked. "In Pemberton Ridge," she stated as she smoothed the wrinkles in her white apron.  
  
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"  
  
"No." She stated quickly.  
  
"What's wrong Alice?"  
  
"My parents are...they're gone. And..."  
  
"And?"  
  
"Something is broken?"  
  
"What's broken Alice?"  
  
The girl paused. For the first time she looked up and met his gaze. The doctor could see past the hurt and past the insanity, for only the craziest went to Pemberton Ridge, he saw fear; fear that scared even him. "I am."  
  
"You are?" He asked in shock. "How so?"  
  
"Do you doubt what I say doctor?" She growled with a half-crazed smile.  
  
"No, I simply want to know how you are broken?"  
  
"My parents where killed, and I, left alone in crazy world of maniacs and lunatics. I went from teacher to teacher, tutor to tutor, being trained the proper way to live in a civil society. So, here I am. Not what I was supposed to be…broken."  
  
"How is that broken?"  
  
"What do you mean how is that broken? Not fixed is broken, right?"  
  
"Yes, but I wouldn't say that you are broken."  
  
"I would. I only find safety in My Wonderland."  
  
"Your Wonderland?"  
  
"That is what I said, right? My Wonderland."  
  
"And what is in your Wonderland."  
  
"Plenty of things. Plenty of things that I'm not willing to share with you." She smiled. The doctor noted the bandages covering her wrists and the tiny stuffed bunny that hung from her apron pocket. The bunny was worn and old. It was white.   
  
Deciding that he would get no where when asking about "Wonderland", he moved on to the bunny. "Alice, where did you get the bunny rabbit?"  
  
"My mother. When I was 8. She gave it to me before I fell asleep in a field when I should have been at study. I had a dream, a dream about the white rabbit. So, here he is."  
  
  
Alice is never late, the doctor told himself. The last session Alice had spoken only of "Wonderland", and the session before that she had admitted that "Wonderland" was doing bad things to her. Doctor Hamilton was beginning to fear that this imaginary place was a sanctuary and hell for Alice. She had some sort of strange connection to this place. His goal was to break the link or determine the origins of the place Alice spoke so frequently of.  
  
"Ah, Alice," Doctor Hamilton smiled as the door opened and Alice appeared. She had come to bring herself without the nurse. Alice thought of herself as very capable and the doctor knew that she was.  
  
"Well Alice, what have you to tell me today?"  
  
"I have a story about Wonderland. My Wonderland. One of the good ones. You see when I was young the Cheshire cat and I used to play."  
  
"Alice?" Doctor Hamilton interrupted.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"How do you get to "Wonderland"?"   
  
"Well, the white rabbit, of course. He is always late."  
  
"I thought the rabbit was a gift?"  
  
"Yes doctor, a gift. But a friend as well."  
  
"Alice could we not talk about "Wonderland today"?"  
  
"But the Cheshire cat, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb? The caterpillar, eat me drink me, the Queen of Hearts, my unbirthday and Mad Hatter? I have so many stories."  
  
"Alice I would like to talk about things that happened in the week, can you do that?"  
  
Alice thought for a moment. "I can't think of any happenings this week."  
  
"Okay Alice tell me your story of the cat. But next week I would like to know what you did all week long."  
  
"I suppose that will be alright. Well, the Cheshire cat stays in the tree. He watches me when I am in Wonderland..." Alice began her story like that. The doctor noted the corresponding bruises and parts of story that Alice failed to mention. She had followed the cat into the tree and fallen out, in this story. The nurse had told the doctor earlier in the week about a "suicide" attempt made by jumping from a tree in the courtyard of Pemberton Ridge.  
  
  
'Progress, definite progress.' Doctor Hamilton thought. He had been seeing Alice for several months now and she had lost all signs of Wonderland. Her stories were of the things she and her friends had done during the week. She was showing thoughts of happiness. She smiled, and talked more. She might be close to the stage where she became a contributing member to society.   
  
"Hello Doctor Hamilton." Alice smiled.  
  
"Hello Alice."  
  
This week Alice spoke of her engagement in singing ring around the rosey and learning to knit. Doctor Hamilton was more than pleased to see that he need not even initiate the conversation, she did it of her own free will.  
  
  
Alice bolted upright. She blinked, twice. The panic was not like any she hadn't felt before. She knew that something was going to happen, just like yesterday, and the day before that and the day before that. It was a fight, another decision. Would she die this time? She scanned her room. The light was dim and halogen lights hummed. She sat before a tiny vile of liquid and a plate of cookies. Eat me. Drink me. Alice heart pounded. "Decide." She said aloud to herself. After swallowing the room began to spin. Darkness.  
  
  
Ring. Ring. "Hey Dave. It's Bill. I have got some bad news."  
  
Doctor Hamilton rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "What is going on Bill?"  
  
"It's Alice. She's fallen. She is in a coma. Looks like the girl did it this time. She got a hold of some arsenic."  
  
"What? How?"  
  
"I don't know. You wanna come take a look at her room?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll be right there."  
  
  
A half-hour later Doctor Hamilton arrived at Pemberton Ridge Mental Institute.   
  
"Hey Dave," Alice's nurse met the doctor at the door.  
  
"Hi Bill. Have you figured out what happened?"  
  
"No. Come on I'll show you to her room."  
  
"Okay. This is all so devastating. Alice and I were making great progress. She was becoming social. She had stories to tell of the activities during the week. She said she learned how to knit this week."  
  
"What?" Bill asked. "Alice never participated. She was a social outcast. Alice didn't talk to the other girls. She was the most quiet of all."  
  
Doctor Hamilton's heart broke. She had been lying all along, and he believed her. "Damn it," he swore.  
  
Bill opened Alice's door for the doctor. The bottle was spilled on the floor and the plate of cookies where tossed everywhere. Alice's white bunny lie in the middle of the mix. "Damn," the doctor swore again. 'She still believed all that Wonderland bull shit. Eat me, drink me.' Doctor Hamilton thought. He scooped up the bunny and shoved it into his pocket, "I'm going to the hospital."   
  
  
Doctor Hamilton visited Alice, only, for a minute. "I thought you were getting better Alice," he told her. He had never thought he was so close to breaking through, as he was to this one. He squeezed her tiny hand. "Damn it Alice," he clenched his teeth as he held back tears. "I'll come see you tomorrow."  
  
  
Doctor Hamilton pulled into his driveway with hot tears filling his eyes. As soon as he entered his home he went to the liquor cabinet. He pulled a full bottle of whiskey from the shelf and opened the container. Jamming his fist into his pocket he felt Alice's bunny, "Damn it, I meant to give this to you." Doctor Hamilton tossed the toy across the room as he took a swig straight from the bottle. The doctor's thoughts began to slur, as did his speech. It didn't take long before the man couldn't stand. He passed out on his couch.  
  
Doctor Dave Hamilton woke to the sound of a clock ticking in his ear. "What has happened?" The doctor asked as he sat up.   
  
"No time," a small male voice answered, "I'm late."  



End file.
